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Characterization Of Natural Organic Matter And Precursors To Trihalomethanes Using Spectral Flourescence Signatures, Krit Punburananon

Dissertations

Disinfection is an essential process to kill pathogens (i.e., disease causing organisms) in source water during the production of drinking water. Chlorine is most widely used disinfectant because it is effective, affordable, and also provides chlorine residual to ensure that the water is safe through the distribution system. Nonetheless, chlorine reacts with Natural Organic Matter (NOM) and forms potentially carcinogenic Disinfection By-products (DBPs). The major chlorination DBPs are dominantly Trihalomethanes (THMs). However, not all organic compounds are equally reactive to THMs formation.

NOM in water samples collected from the Delaware & Raritan Canal and its tributaries (Central New Jersey) was …

Collaborative Learning Utilizing A Domain-Based Shared Data Repository To Enhance Learning Outcomes, David J. Lubliner

Dissertations

A number of learning paradigms have postulated that knowledge formation is a dynamic process where learners actively construct a representation of concepts integrating information from multiple sources. Current teaching strategies utilize a compartmentalized approach where individual courses contain a small subset of the knowledge required for a discipline. The intent of this research is to provide a framework to integrate the components of a discipline into a cohesive whole and accelerate the integration of concepts enhancing the learning process. The components utilized to accomplish these goals include two new knowledge integration models; a Knowledge Weighting Model (KWM) and the Aggregate-Integrate-Master …

Optimizing Fare Structure And Service Frequency For An Intercity Transit System, Feng-Ming Tsai

Dissertations

This study presents an approach to jointly optimize service headway and differentiated fare for an intercity transit system with an objective of total profit maximization and with consideration given to the economic and social sustainability of the system. Service capacity and fleet size constraints are considered. The optimization problem is structured into four scenarios which are comprised of the combinations of whether the Ranges of Travel Distance (RTD) is fixed or variable and if the time period is for a single period or for multiple periods. A successive substitution method (specifically, a modified Gauss Southwell method) is applied to solve …

Kinematic Synthesis Of Planar Four Bar And Geared Five Bar Mechanisms With Structural Constraints, Yahia Mohammad Al-Smadi

Dissertations

In motion generation, the objective is to calculate the mechanism parameters required to achieve or approximate a set of prescribed rigid-body positions. This doctoral dissertation study is aimed to integrate the classical kinematic analysis of a planar four-bar and geared five-bar motion generation with three structural design constraints. These constraints consider driving link static torque, deflection of the crank and buckling of the follower for a given rigid-body load or constant external load.

This kineto-elastostatic analysis is based on the following assumptions to be considered during the analysis; the crank and the follower are elastic members and the coupler is …

Loss Of Synchrony In An Inhibitory Network Of Type-I Oscillators, Myongkeun Oh

Dissertations

Synchronization of excitable cells coupled by reciprocal inhibition is a topic of significant interest due to the important role that inhibitory synaptic interaction plays in the generation and regulation of coherent rhythmic activity in a variety of neural systems. While recent work revealed the synchronizing influence of inhibitory coupling on the dynamics of many networks, it is known that strong coupling can destabilize phase-locked firing. Here we examine the loss of synchrony caused by an increase in inhibitory coupling in networks of type-I Morris-Lecar model oscillators, which is characterized by a period-doubling cascade and leads to mode-locked states with alternation …

Synchrotron Radiation-Based Characterization Of Gan- Based Mqw Structures And Strongly Correlated Materials, Sean M. O'Malley

Dissertations

The following dissertation applies synchrotron radiation-based characterization techniques to the fields of gallium nitrides, multiferroic manganites, and self-assembled nano-domain oxide films. These material systems were chosen due to their unusual properties and potential device applications, which have made them very attractive to the scientific community.

Synchrotron-based High Resolution X-ray Diffraction (HRXRD) was used to characterize the structural properties of GaN-based multiple quantum well (MQW) structures grown on trapezoidal shaped GaN ridges. Results where interpreted within the framework of vapor-phase diffusion and surface-migration effects during the metalorganic vapor phase epitaxial growth. The relatively short diffusion length of group- III precursors and …

Voting In Group Support Systems : Theory, Implementation, And Results From An Exploratory Study, Kung-E Cheng

Dissertations

Group decision making is essential in organizations. Group Support Systems (GSS) can aide groups in making decisions by providing tools and process support. GSS is especially useful for geographically or temporally distributed groups. Researchers of GSS have pointed out that convergence processes are hard to accomplish in GSS. Voting tools in GSS can be a valuable asset in alleviating the difficulty of convergence processes because voting is a concise communication of individual preferences with a well defined procedure that is accepted by group members. In addition, voting results can serve as a group memory of the convergence processes. Field observations …

A Novel Storage Area Network (San) Extension Solution Over Passive Optical Networks (Pons), Si Yin

Dissertations

After 9/11 and the 2003 power grid failure in North America, storage area network (SAN) extension has emerged as a critical option to ensure business continuity. However, SAN extension encounters challenges in the access network including the scalability, cost, bandwidth bottleneck, and throughput. In this dissertation, a new solution, SAN extension over passive optical networks (S-PONs), has been proposed to address the above problems. PONs are the mainstream wireline technology for upgrading the megabit-level access solutions (such as xDSL and Cable Modem) into gigabit-level broadband access. To tackle the scalability problem and cost challenge, the S-PON architecture has been designed …

Characterization And Synthesis Of Nanoscale Materials, Jinfeng Wang

Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the systematic study of techniques for characterization and synthesis of nanoscale materials. We have achieved several goals. Firstly, high number density uniform zinc oxide nanostructure growth has been achieved using thermal evaporation, through control of experimental parameters that include source material temperature, substrate temperature, substrate material, gas flow rate, and choice of catalyst. Aligned zinc oxide nanowires, randomly oriented zinc oxide nanowires, zinc oxide container-shaped structures, and zinc oxide nanobelts have been synthesized with high yield. Secondly, using a one parameter family of lattice fringe geometry curves, we show how to examine the epitaxial relationship between …

Microtonality As An Expressive Device: An 
Approach
 For 
The 
Contemporary 
Saxophonist, Seán Mac Erlaine

Dissertations

This dissertation provides a critical examination of the use of microtonality as an expressive tool for the improvising saxophonist and offers a new method for quarter-tone production drawing on cultural references from European art music, Arabic Maqam and Contemporary Jazz. The thesis is underpinned by an historical, musicological analysis of tuning systems and theory necessary for the performer of microtonal music. The dissertation is presented in three chapters. In Chapter One, a discussion of tuning theory and a history of temperament systems contextualises the current uses of equal temperament and extensions of it including the quarter-tone tempered system. Chapter Two …

Thesis On Adverse Possession, Kathleen O'Dwyer

Dissertations

Adverse possession has been described as a “debilitating” experience and acts as a “blunt instrument” of necessary legislation in modern society. It is a device that ends litigation. Legislation for abolition would lead to greater societal difficulties. Statistically land theft is rare and given that ownership of property carries a duty an owner should be vigilant. One sentence on the property folio could alert an owner of the danger of inadequate fencing. Although aspects of notification as in the Land Registration Act 2002 may be more desirable. The area of compensation payable to the title holder would be unworkable and …

Factors Influencing African American High School Students In Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy And Engineering-Related Goal Intentions, Chandra Yvette Austin

Dissertations

A current challenge in the United States is to increase African American pursuit of engineering careers. Minority students generally tend to be under-represented in such careers, as indicated by the National Academy of Engineering, in The Engineer of 2020-Visions of Engineering in the New Century. This study explores the career decision self-efficacy (Lent, Brown & Hackett, 1993) and Engineering related goal intentions of African American high school students. There are a variety of reasons explaining the lack of choice of engineering as a career, and these were investigated. This study assessed the effect of specific influences (ethnic identity, demographic factors, …

Engineering Problem Finding In High School Students, Benjamin James Franske

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the engineering problem finding ability of high school students at three high schools in Minnesota. Students at each of the three schools had differing backgrounds including pre-engineering coursework, traditional technology education coursework and advanced science coursework. Students were asked to find problems in two different engineering scenarios which were presented to them on a paper and pencil instrument. Responses were scored by a panel of judges based on measures of creativity (flexibility, fluency, originality and elaborateness) and analyzed based on demographic data including gender, prior coursework and school. In addition student responses …

Effects Of Professional Development On Infusing Engineering Design Into High School Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem) Curricula, Zanj Kano Avery

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of professional development (PD) on the infusion of engineering design into high school curricula. Four inservice teachers with backgrounds in physics, chemistry, industrial education, math, and electrical engineering participated in the 2006 National Center of Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE)-sponsored PD workshops at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) and provided three sources of data that were used to answer the research question, “What are the effects of PD on infusing engineering design into high school science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricula”? Three major themes emerged from the data. …

Paper Women: The Representation Of Female Offenders In Irish Newspapers, Lynsey Black

Dissertations

Reductionistic definitions characterise many of the representations of women in our society. From superficial depictions of women as sex objects to the elevation of motherhood as a paragon of womanhood, women navigate myriad roles available to them exclusively because of their gender. Female offenders are potentially more vulnerable to such limitations of representation due to their relative invisibility. Society is largely unacquainted with the realities of circumstance for such women, who are therefore reliant upon media outlets to inform the public. The operation of this process in Ireland has not been the subject of extensive research, and the current study …

Predictors Of Academic Success For High School Students: The Correlation Between Middle School Missouri Assessment Program Scores And Freshman Year Grade Point Average, Sherrie L. Wisdom

Dissertations

Educators lack an efficient means to predict academic success at the high school level. Analysis of assessment scores may provide prediction patterns to help districts raise the percentage of students who persist to graduation, provide support for students who exhibit characteristics of academic risk or giftedness, and move populations closer to meeting Adequate Yearly Progress. To consider assessment data as potential indicators of academic transition success from middle to high school, this study examined the correlation between middle school Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores and high school Grade Point Average (GPA). MAP Communication Arts and Mathematics were independent variables. The …

Measuring Parent Involvement In Relation To Student Achievement, Tony O'Neal Brooks

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of parent involvement in relation to the influence on student achievement within a school community. In addition, this study worked towards gaining an understanding of the parent’s role in the school community. Researching educational data may suggest that more parent involvement will have a greater impact on student achievement, rather than little to no parent involvement, relating to student achievement.

Two sets of data were analyzed. One set came from information gathered in a parent questionnaire which was calculated to produce a parent rating score. The second set of data …

Counselor Religiosity And Its Relationship To The Willingness To Encourage Forgiveness And Reconciliation In Clients, Annmarie Cutting

Dissertations

Problem: Although the concept of forgiveness is very old, it has not been systematically studied until fairly recently. As forgiveness therapies and the empirical study of these therapies continue to emerge, the question of the counselor’s own sense of religiosity and forgiveness has not been considered. This study looked at the religiosity of counselors/psychotherapists and how this influences the degree to which they have forgiven an individual who has hurt or offended them, as well as whether a counselor’s religiosity influences their willingness to encourage a client to forgive someone who has hurt or offended them.

Purpose: The purpose of …

You Are In The World: Catholic Campus Life At Loyola University Chicago, Mundelein College, And De Paul University, 1924-1950, Rae Bielakowski

Dissertations

Responding to Vatican concerns and Daniel A. Lord, S.J.'s national Sodality initiatives, in 1927 Loyola University administrators expanded the student Sodality's newly-established Catholic Action program into a hegemonic presence, not only on the Loyola Arts campus, but throughout Chicago's network of Catholic schools. By 1928 Loyola students headed a federation of 52 Chicago-area Catholic universities, colleges, and high schools, initially known as the Chicago Intercollegiate Conference on Religious Activities (CISCORA). Under Vatican pressure to reaffirm the bishop's catechetical role, six years later Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Bernard Sheil adopted the federation--renamed Chicago Inter-Student Catholic Action (CISCA)--as the official student Catholic Action …

[Black] Regional Conferences In The Seventh-Day Adventist (Sda) Church Compared With United Methodist [Black] Central Jurisdiction/Annual Conferences With White Sda Conferences, From 1940 - 2001, Alfonzo Greene, Jr.

Dissertations

This study compares the historical development of [Black] Regional Conferences in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church with [Black] Central Jurisdiction/Black Annual Conferences in Methodism (now known as the United Methodist Church) and White SDA Conferences--specifically through the prism of race, religion, and to a lesser degree gender. Secondly, emphasis is given to the salient events surrounding [Black] Regional SDA Conferences and [Black] Methodist Central Jurisdiction/Annual Conferences, and White SDA Conferences in order to discern the thread of historical development that emerged in these religious entities. What were the reasons the Methodist and Seventh-day Adventists decided it was essential to set …

Impact Of Interest Group Testimony On Lawmaking In Congress, Nina Therese Kasniunas

Dissertations

Building on interest group and congressional committee literature, the interest group impact theory is created to explicate the role of interest groups in congressional committee hearings. This theory applies not only to the influence interest groups have in congressional hearings, but also to the access given to them to be able to participate. The theory maintains that interest groups are necessary to legislators in this capacity since they provide valuable information relating to politics, elections and policy. Resource rich interest groups with visibility as experts in a policy area are expected to be given more access and influence particularly to …

Transforming Images: Media, Sexuality And Everyday Life, Monica Leigh Edwards

Dissertations

There are many scholars who are critical of modern representations of GLBTQ folks on television (see for example, Larry Gross 1999, Diane Raymond 2005). While it has been established that queer visibility has grown tremendously since the 1990's (post Ellen's coming out), many scholars, noting the absence for example of on-screen intimacy, argue that this greater visibility is still problematic. Queers are rendered a-sexual best friends to straight girls (Ingraham, 1999), and queer couples live lives modeled after "normal" heterosexuals, serving to maintain a binary of sexuality that privileges heteros (Chambers, 2006). All the while, this scholarship seems to pass …

Finding Balance In A Family Of One: Time Use In Single Person Households, Kimberly E. Fox

Dissertations

This project examines the lives of people living alone, particularly their efforts to negotiate and create social boundaries to support a healthy work-life balance. The findings show that people living alone are a diverse segment of the U.S. population and that these individuals work more hours, spend less time on activities at home, and more time with people outside of their home than individuals living with others. People living alone are their own primary caregivers and must find time for self-care and household maintenance in the midst of working and developing meaningful relationships. Without traditional external obligations to structure their …

Safety Changes In Blue Ribbon Schools Since The Attack On Columbine High School, Joseph Gust

Dissertations

Measuring school success using a variety of tools is commonplace in America.

For many years, one standard measurement of a school's success was The Blue Ribbon Award from 1982 through 2002. This award quantified success based on schools achieving successful outcomes in a variety of areas with specific criteria.

Blue Ribbon award winning schools are exceptional by Department of Education

standards. They are not exempt from school violence and the issues that plague other

schools. Academic success and awards do not prepare a school for the situation that

occurred at Columbine.

The participants I interviewed were Principals or Designees at …

Regulation Of Transglutaminase By 5-Ht2a Receptor Signaling And Calmodulin, Ying Dai

Dissertations

Transglutaminase (TGase), nature’s biological glue, catalyzes the post-translational modification of proteins by formation of intra- and intermolecular protein cross-links or by primary amine incorporation. TGase has various physiological functions, such as skin-barrier formation and blood clot stabilization, whereas increasing evidence indicates they may also involved in neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington’s disease (HD), Alzheimer disease’s, and progressive supranuclear palsy. Mutant huntingtin (htt) and small G proteins (e.g. Rac 1) are potential substrates of TGases. The purpose of this dissertation was to characterize the mechanisms by which 5-HT2A receptor signaling and calmodulin (CaM) regulate TGase-catalyzed transamidation of Rac1 and htt in cultured …

The Chicago Board Of Education Desegregation Policies And Practices [1975-1985]: A Historical Examination Of The Administrations Of Superintendents Dr. Joseph P. Hannon And Dr. Ruth Love, Michael James

Dissertations

The purpose of this study will be to examine the policies and practices of two distinguished superintendents of the Chicago Public Schools: Dr. Joseph P. Hannon and the first African American female Superintendent Dr. Ruth Love. Hannon's four year administration extended from 1975 through 1979. Love' administration encompassed the years 1980 through 1985. The individual administrative approaches used by both superintendents to desegregate the Chicago Public Schools will be discussed. In addition the administrator's effectiveness in equalizing educational opportunities for all students will be a primary focus.

Inclusive in this study will be the administrator's development and use of grass …

Colorblind, Deaf And Dumb: Examining Race In A Contemporary American High School, Brendan Bedell

Dissertations

Despite rhetoric of a meritocratic education system, there is little doubt that race still plays a significant role in advantaging white students while disadvantaging black students in school. These advantages and disadvantages are subtly carried out. The root causes of racial disparities in schools are not easily identified and often considered taboo outside of the academy. There is little research that assesses the ways in which students understand the relationship between race and schooling when compared to professional educators. Therefore, the research question for this project was: What language and perspectives do school personnel use in discussing race and what …

Reading Skill Integration In High School Business Courses: Perceptions Of Business Teacher Educators In The United States, Frederick William Polkinghorne

Dissertations

The problem of this research was to determine (a) perceptions of business teacher educators regarding the nature of integrated reading skill instruction in high school business courses, (b) the professional development background of business teacher educators for integrated reading skill instruction, and (c) the influence of selected variables on business teacher educators' perceptions of reading skill integration in high school business courses. The study population included 188 business teacher educators in 36 states. Data were gathered through the use of a survey instrument that was validated by a panel of experts and pilot tested. Conclusions state that business teacher educators …

Relationships Among Leader-Member Exchange, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Organizational Commitment, Gender, And Dyadic Duration In A Rehabilitation Organization, James Louis Soldner

Dissertations

This study was an investigation of the relationship between subordinates' perceptions of the quality of the leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship and their willingness to engage in organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and organizational commitment (OC). Differences in subordinates' perceptions of the quality of the LMX with their supervisor according to the gender of the supervisor compared to the employee (same sex vs. different sex) and dyadic duration of the LMX were also investigated. The possible moderation of dyadic duration on the relationship between subordinates' perception of the quality of the LMX and their willingness to engage in OCB and OC were …

Principal Evaluation And Student Achievement: A Study Of Public Elementary Schools In Dupage, Will, And Lake Counties, Illinois, Edward John Condon

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the topic of the evaluation of school principals and the role it plays in fostering student achievement. The overarching research question for this study was the following: "Is there a relationship between the type and intensity of principal evaluation and pupil performance in DuPage, Will, and Lake County, Illinois public schools at the K-8 level?"

While there are a number of purposes for principal evaluation, the tools and methods used to evaluate principals vary tremendously by both state and school district. This study addressed the degree to which principal evaluation affects students' …